Peter Hain and Paul Murphy
When Peter Hain last appeared in the National Assembly to deliver a speech on the impact of the Queen’s Speech on Wales little did I think, when I suggested in the first response to that speech that he must be relieved to get away from all the trouble in the Labour government at Westminster with difficulties swirling around on dodgy donations, that Peter Hain would shortly be embroiled in massive difficulties of his own for non-disclosure.
For at that stage the difficulties centred around Wendy Alexander and Harriet Harman, the Labour deputy leader. They still do, of course.
The appointment of Paul Murphy as Welsh Secretary again is an interesting one. Paul is a pleasant man and has a reputation (probably deserved) of being able to bring people together. It is hard to see this as a long term appointment, however. Is this a stopgap appointment while Brown decides what to do with the devolved nations in the cabinet?
Also, of course, Paul is not a massive fan of the deal with Plaid and is also known to be more luke warm on further powers than Peter Hain
